Advancing equity, efficiency in Ghana’s education system: Lessons from 2026 Global Education Monitoring Report

The 2026 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report offers critical insights into Ghana’s education system, particularly regarding access, equity and financing.

While Ghana has made substantial progress in expanding access to education, the report reveals persistent structural weaknesses that limit the inclusiveness and effectiveness of these gains.

Evidence drawn from the report highlights challenges in early childhood education, inequitable financing, and the continued marginalisation of vulnerable groups, underscoring the need for a decisive policy shift towards equity-driven reform.

Issue

A key issue identified is the weakness of Ghana’s pre-primary education system.

The report’s comparative data show that Ghana is among the countries in which a significant proportion of children enter primary school without having completed pre-primary education. 

This pattern of early entry indicates limited access to structured early childhood education and suggests that many children begin formal schooling without adequate cognitive and socio-emotional preparation.

The implication is profound: early learning deficits can accumulate over time, affecting progression, learning outcomes, and completion rates.

Strengthening pre-primary education, through expanded access, improved infrastructure, and targeted investment, remains essential for foundational learning and long-term system efficiency.

The report also provides explicit evidence of inequity in Ghana’s education financing.

Ghana is identified as one of the countries where education support programmes demonstrate “limited or no effectiveness in targeting” poorer households. 

Although the report notes that, globally, the median country reaches about five per cent of its population with tuition support and six per cent with other forms of support, with averages slightly above 15 per cent due to larger programmes in some countries, Ghana’s inclusion in the weak-targeting category suggests that such support is not sufficiently reaching those most in need. 

Capacity

This raises serious concerns about the redistributive capacity of Ghana’s education financing framework. In effect, public spending may not be adequately aligned with poverty reduction and inclusion objectives, thereby undermining the pro-poor intent of national education policies.

Beyond financing, the report underscores that structural inequalities persist in Ghana despite expanded access.

As part of Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that now accounts for up to 74 per cent of the global out-of-school youth population at the upper secondary level, Ghana operates within a broader context of systemic exclusion risks. 

While Ghana has made notable strides in enrolment, the persistence of inequities, particularly affecting rural populations, poorer households, and other vulnerable groups, suggests that expansion has not been matched with equitable outcomes.

This aligns with the report’s broader conclusion that education systems can grow significantly while still leaving disadvantaged groups behind.

The central policy lesson emerging from the report for Ghana is the need to transition from an access-driven model to an equity-focused and efficiency-oriented education system. 

This requires strengthening targeting mechanisms to ensure that resources are allocated based on clear indicators of disadvantage, including poverty, geographic location, and vulnerability status.

It also calls for improving the efficiency of public spending, ensuring that investments translate into meaningful outcomes for those most at risk of exclusion.

Without such reforms, increased spending and enrolment may continue to yield limited gains in equity and learning.

Stage

In conclusion, Ghana has reached a pivotal stage in its education development trajectory.

The country’s success in expanding access provides a strong foundation, but the next phase must focus on deepening equity and improving system efficiency.

By prioritising early childhood education, redesigning financing mechanisms to better target the poor, and addressing persistent structural inequalities, Ghana can move closer to achieving inclusive and sustainable education outcomes in line with SDG 4.

The writer is a Lecturer – UCC; Executive Director – IFEST_Ghana]